Based on Materials Written by: H.P. Lovecraft Sandy Petersen Justin Achilli Layout, Editing, & Design: James D. Hargrove Thanks To: MrGone John Garlick World of Cthulhu Lovecraftian Roleplay in the World of Darkness Draft Version 0.05 World of Cthulhu is an unofficial supplement designed to be used with Introduction White Wolf Incorporated’s World of Darkness core rule book. World of Cthulhu is a homage to the supernatural horror of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and, as such, draws heavily upon public domain works written by that author. Finally, World of Cthulhu was also inspired by the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game published by Chaosium Incorporated. Please, for the love of all things holy, don’t sue me for making World of Cthulhu available to the public! Characters Characters in the World of Cthulhu are normal, everyday people - just like you and me. While some of these people may possess combat training (such as soldiers) or the legal right to arrest other people (such as FBI agents or local police officers), at the end of the day they’re still human beings. They don’t possess supernatural powers, they don’t have some higher calling to fight evil, and they don’t routinely kick supernatural evil in the face, either. In the World of Cthulhu, it’s not the character who is unusual, but the circumstances that life or some more sinister force (such as the Storyteller) thrusts upon them. New Skills The World of Cthulhu rules add three new skills to the standard skill list utilized in the World of Darkness core rule book - Cthulhu Mythos, Diving, and Etiquette - all of which are explained directly below: Cthulhu Mythos “Beyond the stars lay boundless portals - the dark, the darkness, compensates in closed spaces - but I have gazed into those portals and I have seen the horrible things gazing back.” The fiction of Howard Lovecraft treats non-mythos related magic much as it does non-mythos related religions - such things are superficial constructs of humanity that serve no purpose other than to comfort people as they live out a meager existence in an uncaring universe. In the World of Cthulhu, only the magic and methods of the Cthulhu Mythos have any true power. You can slap down a ten-dollar bill at the local bookstore and buy a book of so-called Pagan ‘magic’, but the damnable sorcery of the Cthulhu Mythos comes at a much higher price. As such, the knowledge of these things is represented by this new skill. Possessed by: Misguided individuals who don’t know any better such as crazed cultists, sorcerers, savages, unfortunate investigators Specialties: Alien Artifacts, Cosmology, Cult Practices, Sacred Tomes, Sorcerous Rituals Roll Results: Dramatic Failure: Your character has seriously misjudged some aspect of the Mythos, be it a ritual component or the intentions of a particular cult. Note that such a mistake may not become apparent immediately, but either way, the ultimate consequence of such a mistake will be very bad. Failure: Your character simply makes no headway in his efforts to decipher a Mythos tome, call upon the power of a sorcerous ritual, deduce the origin of an alien artifact, or otherwise practically apply their knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos. -1- Success: Your character successfully calls upon their knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos to enact a ritual, identify the calling card of a particular cult, New Skills decipher a passage from the Al Azif, or discern the intended use of an alien artifact (Continued) from beyond space and time. Exceptional Success: Not only does your character’s attempt to apply their knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos succeed, but they also recall some niggling (and potentially very important) detail about the cult, spell, tome, artifact, or other abominable thing that they are explaining, investigating, or invoking. Diving “When I saw that horrible face hiding amongst the seaweed, I forgot all of my training, dropped my weights and sped toward the distant surface of the bay, bends be damned!” Characters who posses the Diving skill are versed, not only in the basic principles of diving, but in their practical application as well. Such a character knows how to control their breathing, how to move with precision underwater, and how to avoid unnecessary risks while beneath the surface of the sea. Given the nautical nature of many Lovecraft short stories, the inclusion of a skill that expressly allowed for undersea exploration seemed prudent. Possessed by: Marine biologists, pearl divers, pipeline welders, sailors, weekend warriors Specialties: SCUBA diving, skin diving, spear fishing, underwater safety Roll Results: Dramatic Failure: Your character’s effort not only fails, but they injure themselves in the process - and, obviously, diving accidents can have the potential to be lethal (see the rules for Holding Breath on Page 49 of the WoD core rule book). Failure: Your character fails to achieve what they were attempting to do. They decide that exploring an underwater cave before going up for another air tank is a good idea, they clumsily bump into the rotten hull of a sunken vessel, triggering its collapse, etc. Success: Your character accomplishes the action as planned. They surface to exchange air canisters before exploring the underwater cave, they deftly maneuver past the rotten hull of the sunken ship, etc. Exceptional Success: Your character accomplishes the action with more efficiency or speed than expected. For instance, your character manages to spear an attacking sharp through the roof of it’s mouth, rendering it harmless. Etiquette “She was called Victoria because she had beaten us in battle seven hundred years before, and she was called Gloriana because she was glorious, and she was called the Queen because the human mouth was not shaped to say her true name.” Eccentric socialites and high society often play a role in Lovecraft’s short stories, thus, a specific skill to deal with such elements has been implemented here. The Etiquette skill is essentially the inverse of the Streetwise skill - that is, a character -2- who possesses the Etiquette skill knows the ins and outs of high society and are New Skills adept at surviving by its often cutthroat rules. Characters who understand Etiquette (Continued) can bend the ears of important socialites, broker items at exclusive auction houses, and otherwise make use of the unique resources available to the social elite. Like the Streetwise skill, Etiquette also comes in handy for avoiding the law and staying on the right side of wrong people, albeit in a different social circle. Possessed by: Aristocrats, business magnates, celebrities, politicians Specialties: Fraternal Orders, Gossip, Publicity, Pulling Strings Roll Results: Dramatic Failure: Your character completely misjudges a situation, making a blunder that could have fatal or, at least, financially devastating consequences. He might try to steal money from a powerful businessman, accidentally insult the head of a prominent fraternal order, or drop the name of an individual who doesn’t wish to be associated with the character. Failure: Your character has no luck rendezvousing with his high society chums, or convincing the local social elite that he is worth their time. Success: Your character manages to arrange a rendezvous with a high roller who can provide him with what he seeks. Dramatic Success: Not only does your character manage to arrange a rendezvous with an important socialite, but they also manage to put themselves in that socialite’s good graces, perhaps allowing for easier future interactions. Old Skills With At the moment, only one skill has been renamed (don’t worry - it still works in exactly the same manner) - Brawling. In the World of Cthulhu, investigators are New Names generally gentlemen and/or ladies, and such folk simply don’t brawl - instead they engage in Fisticuffs. New Advantage Sanity Traits: (Wits + Composure) - Cthulhu Mythos Madness and sanity are vital staples of Lovecraft’s fiction and, as such, it only seemed appropriate that characters possess a special advantage to represent mental fortitude in the World of Cthulhu, thus the Sanity advantage. In the World of Cthulhu, when a character loses points of Sanity it doesn’t mean that they slide towards drooling catatonia or homicidal mania, but rather that they begin to blur lines between different levels of reality. In point of fact, so-called ‘insane’ characters in the World of Cthulhu have a better grip on the way things really work - they’re simply labeled ‘insane’ by the rest of society who, as of yet, isn’t privy to the horrible truths of the world (or is, but chooses to deny them). Sanity is rated on a scale from 1 to 10 and has both an initial rating and a current rating. A character’s initial Sanity rating is filled in on the dots under “Sanity” on your character sheet. A character’s current Sanity rating is tracked in the corresponding boxes. As a character’s Sanity deteriorates and they begin to lose points of Sanity, just check off a box. When dots and checked boxes are equal, your character is no longer able to distinguish between different levels of reality, confusing one for another and, as a result, is dismissed by those individuals with high Sanity as a simple madman. That said, you might be wondering how this works mechanically... -3- Madness Ratings: New Advantage Every potentially mind-twisting horror, every hidden truth that man was not meant to know, has a Madness rating that delineates the potential of that hideous (continued) thing to unhinge the human mind. Suggested Madness ratings